Sunderland face a third season in League One
Sunderland will spend a third season in League One after their lowest ever league finish was confirmed.
The EFL have confirmed that third-tier clubs have voted to curtail the current campaign. The table will be settled on a points-per-game basis, with Sunderland dropping into eighth position.
The EFL said that clubs votedtocurtail‘byanoverwhelming majority’.
Clubs had voted to adopt the EFL’s framework for settling the tables, rejecting proposalsbyTranmereRoversand Ipswich Town that could have seen the Black Cats invited to take part in an extended playoff campaign.
Coventry City and Rotherham United have been promoted automatically, while Wycombe Wanderers, Oxford United, Portsmouth and Fleetwood Town will contest the play-offs, to be held later this month.
The result of the vote was a mere formality, with the four teams set to take place in the play-offs already back in training having begun a COVID-19 testing programme.
A four-game winless run before the postponement of fixturesacrossthedivisionhas cost the Black Cats dear.
They miss out on the top six by 3.32 points, after the final calculations. Southend United,BoltonWanderersand TranmereRovershaveallbeen relegated.
Swindon Town have been confirmed as League Two champions and will face Sunderlandnextseason.CreweAlexandra and Plymouth Argyle havealsobeenpromotedautomatically. Colchester United, ExeterCity,CheltenhamTown and Northampton Town will contest a play-off campaign later this month for the final promotion slot.